Let the Games Begin
by arysa13
Summary: Clarke really wants to win capture the flag. That's the only reason she kisses Bellamy.


"Get your head in the game, Clarke," Raven says, serious as hell. She drags lines of blue face paint across her cheeks like she's getting ready for battle.

"My head is in the game," Clarke says, grabbing the paint from Raven.

"We aren't going to lose this time," Raven continues, as if Clarke hadn't even spoken.

"Raven, I want to win just as much as you do. Why don't you tell Jasper and Maya to get _their_ heads in the game?" Clarke says, gesturing to where the two are making out against a tree. "Or Murphy. He keeps fraternizing with the enemy."

The two of them look over to see Murphy, wearing a blue bandana around his head, talking to Bellamy, wearing a red bandana around his head. As if the boys can sense Raven and Clarke watching them, they look over. Bellamy smirks and gives Clarke a wink. She rolls her eyes. He thinks he's such a stud.

The final member of their team, Emori, hasn't even arrived yet.

Raven turns to Clarke. "You're my best player, Clarke," she says.

Clarke knows this to be true, only because Jasper and Maya only joined the monthly games so they could make out, Emori is always running late, and Murphy is always trying way too hard to be funny and cool, and therefore screwing up every time.

A month ago, the opposing team, consisting of Bellamy, Octavia, Monty, Harper, Miller and Echo, had beaten Raven and Clarke's team at dodgeball, and Raven is still sulky about it, because she's adamant that Miller cheated. Unfortunately, they're their own umpires and she had no one to dispute it with because she and Clarke were the only ones on their team who actually cared, and therefore it was ten against two in favour of the game being over.

But this time, Clarke is determined that they are going to beat the red team (or as they like to call themselves, The Gladiators) at capture the flag. Raven chose the game, and she swears she's excellent at it, and she's been bragging about her great strategies for the past month. She's yet to inform the rest of the team of any of these strategies though, and they're only five minutes away from starting the game. Provided Emori shows up within that time.

They've set up their arena in a park that Raven and Clarke had spent last weekend scouting out. (Okay, maybe they're a little _too_ invested in the games, but between work and college, sometimes it's the only fun they get). The flags are situated at each end of the park, and between them lies a minefield of trees, playgrounds, park benches, animals and people. With only a couple of minutes until they get started, Clarke is filled with adrenalin, ready and raring to whoop the red team's asses.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Octavia yells from five metres away, where her team is gathered in a circle.

"Get ready to lose!" Miller taunts. Clarke rolls her eyes.

"Emori isn't here yet!" Raven calls back. "And when she _does_ get here, you'll be the ones losing!" she yells. She grins at Clarke, pleased with herself.

"Nice trash talking," Clarke says sarcastically.

Raven shrugs. "My focus is on winning, not coming up with insults," she says. "Where the hell is Emori?"

"I'm here!" Emori calls, hurrying up to the group, still tying her blue bandana around her head.

"Finally!" Raven says, exasperated. "We can start!"

"Positions everyone!" Clarke yells, and the two teams start to make their way to their home bases.

Bellamy grins as he passes her. "I hope Raven can live up to all her bragging," he taunts.

"Oh, don't worry. She can," Clarke smirks, though she sounds a lot more confident than she feels.

"We'll see."

"Can you two stop flirting and get to your flags?" Octavia scolds.

Clarke rolls her eyes and Bellamy gives her a grimace. They're used to the not-so-subtle hints from their friends that they're supposedly in love with each other. Clarke mostly ignores them now. She knows they're all just teasing her. Bellamy is so confident when it comes to women, she's pretty sure if he was in love with her he would have done something about it by now.

"Good luck, you'll need it," Clarke grins, before skipping off to join the rest of her team.

"Alright, here's the plan," Raven says, clapping her hands together as soon as Clarke has reached them. "Clarke, you're going to guard the flag. Jasper and Maya, you're going to find hiding spots as close to the other team's flag as you can without being caught. _Separately._ " She stresses the last part, knowing the couple will just get distracted by each other if they're together.

"Murphy, Emori, follow me," Raven commands. She grabs the whistle hanging around her neck and blows it to signify the start of the game. They hear a faint answering whistle from the other end of the park, letting them know the other team knows the game has started.

"I'll blow it again when I've won the game," Raven grins. "Okay, hands in." She holds out her hand and the others pile their hands on top of hers. "Go Unicorns!" Raven yells as they all raise their arms.

"I still hate that name," says Murphy. Raven grabs him by the shirt and then she sets off down the park, dragging Murphy with her, Emori trailing behind.

Half an hour later, she returns, panting and alone.

"How's it going?" Clarke asks. She's kind of sick of guarding the flag and is itching to get out and do some actual playing.

"I have good news and bad news," Raven informs her, trying to catch her breath.

"Bad news first."

"Everyone else in our team has been caught and we're the only ones who can save the day," Raven says. She doesn't seem that upset about it though, so the good news must outweigh the bad news.

"And the good news?"

"The other team only has Bellamy left," she says, bouncing with excitement. "It's two against one!"

"Yes! What's the plan?"

Raven immediately enters serious mode. "There's a playground pretty close to where their flag is," she says. "We hide there for a second, and then you run for the flag. Bellamy will obviously try to catch you. You just have to keep him distracted long enough for me to grab the flag and get it back to home base. Think you can do that?"

Clarke nods. "Let's do it."

They high five before crouching low and setting out in the direction of the playground Raven had mentioned.

"Get out of my way!" Raven screams. Clarke glances at her to see Raven dodging an over enthusiastic Labrador looking for some affection.

The park is pretty packed, and children crawl all over the playground, making it easy for Clarke and Raven to slip under unnoticed. The two of them lay in the bark chips on their stomachs as children run and scream on the equipment above them.

"Ready?" Raven asks.

"Ready," Clarke confirms. She gets to her feet, crouching down, ready to run,

"Remember, keep him distracted," Raven reminds her.

"I know," Clarke rolls her eyes. She takes off, sprinting towards the flag. A second later, she's being tackled to the ground by a great force, the wind knocked out of her, and Bellamy lying on top of her, grinning.

"Ha, thought it would be that easy, did you?" He chuckles.

"God, Bellamy," Clarke groans, pressing a hand to her side. "You just had to tag me, you didn't have to tackle me to the ground."

"Oh shit, did I hurt you?" Bellamy asks, concerned. He's about to get up, but Clarke grabs his arm to stop him. She has to keep him distracted until she's sure Raven is well away.

"Wait, Bellamy," she says quickly. She swallows. Bellamy tilts his head, waiting for her to continue. Clarke does the only thing she can think of under the circumstances. She fists her hand in his shirt and drags him down to kiss him.

It only takes him a moment to get over his surprise, and then he's kissing her back, his tongue sliding into her mouth, one hand pressed against her waist, stroking her stomach with his thumb. Clarke's head goes all fuzzy, and her whole body tingles. God, he's a _really_ good kisser.

She whimpers as his teeth graze her bottom lip, and she trails her fingers down his hard chest. She should stop, probably. But she doesn't want to. He's the first one to pull away, and his deep brown eyes look into hers searchingly. Clarke swallows. Her lips are swollen and her body is on fire.

A shrill whistle rings out through the park, signalling that Raven has gotten the flag back to base. The noise brings Clarke back to her senses, and she pushes Bellamy off her so he rolls to the ground. Clarke jumps up, grinning.

"Sucker!" she laughs. "We win, you lose!"

"What?" Bellamy asks, confused. He gets up, dusting himself off.

"That whistle was Raven. We won the game. Did you like my distraction?" Clarke winks.

Bellamy stares at her. "Distraction?" he asks, hesitant.

"Me kissing you. It was to distract you so Raven could get the flag," Clarke explains.

Bellamy's jaw tightens. "Distraction. Right," he says flatly. Is it her imagination or does he seem annoyed? Hurt, even?

As the rest of the two teams join them, Raven waving the red flag victoriously, Clarke puts it down to him losing the game.

"You're such a sore loser, Bell," Clarke says, giving him an affectionate shove.

"Not my fault you're a cheater," Bellamy scowls.

"Nowhere in the rules does it say no kissing."

"Maybe it should," Bellamy says shortly. He stalks off before Clarke can respond. She almost goes after him, but then Raven is throwing her arms around her, jumping up and down with glee.

"We won, we won!" Raven cheers, and the rest of the team joins in the celebration, while the other team wanders off to find Bellamy. "What did you do to distract him?" Raven asks.

"Oh," Clarke swallows, her face heating up. "I, uh, kissed him."

Raven stops. The smile falls from her face. "You _kissed_ him?" she asks.

"Yeah," Clarke nods. "Just as a distraction, obviously," she adds, to quell any ideas that she might be in love with him.

Raven gives her a disapproving look, and as Clarke looks around at her other teammates, they all seem kind of unimpressed with her too.

"That was low, Clarke," Jasper shakes his head.

"It was just a dumb kiss," Clarke huffs. "It's not like it meant anything." She turns back to Raven. "You told me to distract him."

"Whatever, Clarke," Raven shrugs. "Let's go home, people."

The others start to head towards their cars, and Clarke stands there for a moment, bewildered. She won them the game. What do they care if she kissed Bellamy or not? She can understand why the other team would be annoyed. No one likes losing. But her own teammates?

Clarke huffs. Whatever. They'll be over it by next month.

* * *

The truth is, the gang don't see much of each other between the games. They're all busy with their own lives, and a month can fly by without any of them even noticing. Which is why they started the games in the first place, because it gives them an excuse to all hang out together at least once a month.

But Clarke hates going a month without seeing Bellamy. He usually comes over on the off weekends to hang out with Clarke and Raven, and they watch a movie or something else that doesn't require too much energy.

But he doesn't come over the weekend after capture the flag, and when Clarke messages him to ask him where he is, he just says he's busy.

She stares at her phone, feeling defeated. Raven collapses onto the couch next to her, bowl of popcorn in her hand.

"What's got you all pouty?" Raven asks.

"Bellamy says he's busy."

"Oh well, that means we can watch something he'll hate. What's that one he refuses to watch because he says it's too historically inaccurate?"

"He's never busy," Clarke whines.

"He's probably got a date or something," Raven shrugs. She shoves a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"A _date_?"

"Don't act so surprised. You thought he was going to wait around for you forever?" Raven snorts.

"I didn't—he wasn't—" Clarke splutters.

Raven throws a piece of popcorn at her. "I think he and Echo have some vibes going on."

" _Echo_?"

"She's always had a thing for him."

"She has not."

"What do you care, anyway, hm?" Raven says pointedly. "I distinctly remember you saying about a trillion times that you only think of him as a friend."

Clarke sits back against the couch, trying not to pout. "I do."

"Uh huh," Raven says, clearly not believing her in the slightest. "You want to watch Pride and Prejudice?"

"Yes please."

* * *

It's the Gladiators' turn to pick the game. More specifically, Echo.

The game had sounded lame when Echo explained it in the group chat. She calls it "Tails" and basically everyone is given a piece of cloth to wear as a tail, the objective being to steal all of the other team's tails.

Clarke understands the premise. What she doesn't understand is why Echo thinks it will be fun, and also why they're playing at midnight.

"Midnight is for sleeping," Clarke complains from the passenger seat as Raven drives them to the requested location.

"We've played at night before."

"Yeah, like… 9pm," Clarke says. Raven doesn't respond. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Twenty-three."

"Twenty-three what?"

"It's just a place called Twenty-three," Raven shrugs. She pulls the car into a space. "We're here."

Clarke looks up at the building in front of them. A neon green sign reads _23_. There's a short line to the door, and a burly looking bouncer checking IDs.

"This is a nightclub," Clarke notes.

"It appears so."

Another car pulls up beside them, and Bellamy gets out of the driver's side. Clarke's stomach twists. She hasn't seen him since the last game. Since she kissed him. He's probably forgotten about it.

She watches as Echo gets out of the passenger side, and her stomach plummets. Maybe Raven was right. Maybe Echo and Bellamy are a thing after all.

Clarke undoes her seatbelt and gets out of the car. Raven is already outside, chatting to Bellamy.

"Hey," Clarke says. Why is her stomach churning? Bellamy glances at her and gives her a quick nod before returning to his conversation with Raven. That's it. Could he really still be mad about losing capture the flag? She feels lost all of a sudden, like she shouldn't be here. "What's up with him?" she asks Echo.

"You're an idiot, Clarke," is all Echo says. Then she struts up to the entrance of 23 and starts talking to the bouncer.

The others start to arrive, and they're milling around, chatting, but Clarke can't focus on a conversation. She can only think about Bellamy and how he's obviously mad at her for some reason.

Echo comes back, and starts handing out flags.

"Tuck the flag into the back of your pants or whatever," she instructs. "If you steal a flag, tuck that one in too. You can steal and re-steal as many times as you're able. The game lasts an hour. We meet back out here at 1am, and whichever team has stolen the most flags wins."

"Everyone ready?" Bellamy asks.

"Emori isn't here yet," Raven says.

"Yes I am."

Raven looks at Emori in surprise. "Oh, sorry. Force of habit."

"The game starts as soon as we're inside," Echo says. "The bouncer says we can go right in."

"Well, let's go already!" Raven huffs. Echo gives her an exasperated but affectionate head tilt, before leading the group inside.

Raven grabs Clarke by the arm. "We need to find a home base so we can talk strategy." She glances back at the rest of the team as they pass through the front door of the club. The thudding music assaults Clarke's ears. Somehow she thinks there isn't going to be much strategy talk.

But Raven is waving at Murphy and Emori, and starts weaving her way through the crowd. Clarke follows, Jasper and Maya behind her, leaving the other team behind before they can steal any tails.

Raven leads them into the men's bathroom. It's quieter in here.

"You do realise this is the _men's_ room, right?" Murphy points out.

"Guys don't care about that stuff. If I brought you into the ladies' room, all the women would run screaming."

A man pushes the bathroom door open, stopping when he sees the group gathered in front of him.

"Do you mind?" Raven snaps at him. The man quickly retreats. "Anyway," she turns back to the group. "We need a strategy."

"I'm not sure there is a strategy for this weird game," Emori screws up her nose.

"There is always a strategy," Raven says. "I say, everyone pick a person. Once you have that person's flag, hide. Actually, you guys don't get to pick. Jasper, you take Monty, Maya you take Harper. I'm going to take Octavia."

"What about the rest of us?" Murphy asks.

"Murphy you're on Bellamy, Emori you're on Echo, Clarke, that leaves you with Miller. Everyone got it?"

They all nod, and Raven leads the way back out into the nightclub.

"I'll swap you," Murphy says to Clarke, once Raven is out of earshot.

"What? Why?"

"Bellamy is too good at this stuff. You can just distract him like you did last time," Murphy says.

"Everyone hated me when I did that," Clarke points out. "And anyway, I doubt it would work twice. I just took him by surprise last time."

Murphy snorts. "Please, Clarke," he rolls his eyes. "You think everyone is kidding when we say he's in love with you?"

"Uh, yes?"

"You're an idiot," Murphy says. Clarke scowls. Why does everyone keep calling her an idiot tonight? "I'm taking Miller," Murphy says, and he disappears into the crowd.

Clarke's heart thumps wildly against her ribcage. She's never let herself entertain the thought of being with Bellamy. At least, not seriously. But what if—what if he really is in love with her? What if he's mad because she kissed him as a distraction when he really wanted her to kiss him for real? Maybe it's an insane theory. Maybe it's wishful thinking. But maybe it's not.

Clarke swallows. She has to find him. Talk to him.

Surprisingly, it isn't that hard. He's standing at the bar, waiting for a drink. She could probably easily grab his flag, hanging out of his back pocket, but she's not really focused on the game right now. She leans up against the bar beside him. He turns to her, gives her a slight smile.

"Are you mad at me?" she asks, half yelling so he can actually hear her.

He shakes his head. "Why would I be mad?"

The bartender hands him his drink. Clarke shrugs.

"Can we talk?"

Bellamy nods, pointing to the door that leads to the outside area. Clarke nods in return and follows him outside. Once they're out, Bellamy makes a grab for Clarke's flag, and she quickly jumps out of his reach, pressing her back against the brick wall to protect her flag.

"Truce?" Clarke says. "Just while we talk."

"Okay," Bellamy agrees. He takes a sip of his drink, stepping towards her.

"Are you sure you're not mad at me?"

"Like I said, why would I be?" Bellamy asks.

Clarke shrugs. "I haven't seen you in a month. You didn't even say hi earlier."

"I've just been busy, Clarke," he says. "And I was in the middle of a conversation with Raven earlier."

"Right," Clarke nods. "So you're not mad I kissed you?"

"Well, I was," he admits. "You played dirty. But I'm over it now."

Clarke swallows. She wishes she had a drink in her hand. She finds herself wishing he'd kiss her again. "That's good," she says. "I thought maybe… I mean, Murphy suggested you might be in love with me, and I just wanted to, you know, make sure I hadn't hurt you or something."

Bellamy takes a long swig of his drink, emptying it. "In love with you, huh?" he muses. He shakes his head. "I don't know if one kiss would be enough to make me fall in love with you."

Clarke laughs nervously. Is he closer than he was before? "Of course not."

"It was a pretty good kiss though, right?" he asks, studying his glass. He puts the glass on a nearby table.

Clarke nods, barely breathing. He's definitely closer now. She has to tilt her head right back just to keep eye contact. He presses a hand on the wall behind her, and then he lowers his mouth to hers. Clarke closes her eyes at the last moment, opening her lips to his, and she might let out a tiny sound of pleasure when his tongue meets hers. She loses herself in the kiss, thinking of nothing but the way he smells, the way he tastes. She doesn't want him to ever stop.

His hands find her waist and he tugs her closer to him, and Clarke winds her fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck. His hands drift lower, and she doesn't stop him as one hand reaches her ass. And then, abruptly, he pulls away, leaving Clarke reeling. She opens her eyes to see him holding a blue flag in front her face, a smug look on his face. _Her_ flag, she realises. Her stomach plummets.

"Now we're even," Bellamy winks, and then he's walking backwards, back towards the door.

"What about the truce?" Clarke yells after him.

He shrugs, and disappears inside. Clarke stands there, not even sure what she's feeling. Dizzy. Foolish. Hurt. She feels like she might cry. She doesn't even want to play this stupid game anymore. She doesn't have a tail to protect anymore, so she pushes her way through the crowd inside, which seems to have doubled while she was outside, and back out the front entrance. She sees Murphy out the corner of her eye, but she ignores his wave, pretending she doesn't see him.

She heads to Raven's car, but realises she can't get in, since Raven has the keys. She does, however, have the spare key to Bellamy's car. And she's not going to sit out here on the curb and cry. That's just _too_ pathetic.

She gets into the driver's seat and turns the car on. There's some sad song on the radio, and Clarke feels a tear escape down her cheek.

She doesn't even know why she's crying. It's just a dumb game. So what if he kissed her to win? Hadn't she done the exact same thing to him? But for a few moments there, after what Murphy said, and then the way Bellamy was kissing her, she really thought maybe he loved her. And it's fine to want someone you're never going to have. It was fine when she'd convinced herself he was never going to feel the same way. But god, to have hope for even a minute, only to have it snatched away in a single moment. That's going to take some getting over.

Clarke gets a text from Raven at 12:45.

 **I haven't seen you in a while. How's it going? Did you get Miller's flag?**

Clarke replies: **My flag got stolen. I'm done playing. I'm outside.**

A second later: **So you didn't get Miller's flag?**

Clarke rolls her eyes. **No. Murphy and I swapped. Bellamy took my flag.**

Raven doesn't reply again after that. Clarke slumps back in the seat. It smells like Bellamy, which is comforting somehow, even though he's the reason she's crying right now.

A few minutes later she sees Bellamy step out of the club. She sits up, wiping her eyes. It's too late for her to pretend she was never in his car, but she doesn't want him to know she's been crying. He heads towards the car, opening the passenger door and sliding in beside her.

"What are you doing out here?" he asks.

Clarke shrugs. "This game is dumb."

"Yeah," Bellamy agrees. Clarke keeps her gaze firmly straight ahead, but she sees him look at her out the corner of his eye. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"You've been crying."

"No I haven't."

"Clarke," Bellamy says. She hates the way he says her name like that. Like she's the only thing he's ever really cared about. He shouldn't say her name ever if he doesn't want her to be in love with him.

"I'm a sore loser, okay?" she says.

"I know," Bellamy says. He sounds amused. "Is that really why you're upset? Murphy said—"

"Murphy should really mind his own business."

"Agreed."

There's a silence, and then Clarke hears Bellamy take a breath. He pauses, as if he's not sure he should say what he's going to say. He says it anyway. "You really shouldn't walk around kissing people to win games if you can't handle your own medicine."

"That's the dumbest thing you've ever said."

"But I'm right."

"Maybe," Clarke shrugs. "I'm sorry I kissed you, are you happy?"

"Not really." He licks his lips. "I'm sorry I kissed you too."

"Great, we're both sorry. Now we can just forget it ever happened," Clarke snaps.

"Clarke, what—"

"It was different for me," she bursts out, finally turning to him. Bellamy stares at her. Clarke takes a deep breath, then says, more calmly, "It wasn't just a game, for me."

"Clarke—"

"When Murphy said you were in love with me, I—I wanted it to be true," she says lamely. And then it's out there. She can't take it back now.

"Clarke, you're an idiot."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" she huffs.

"Probably because they all know that it _is_ true. What Murphy said. You're the only dense idiot that can't seem to see it," Bellamy says wryly.

Clarke stares at him. She's not sure she's heard correctly. "Did you just say—"

"I'm in love with you," he confirms. He looks away, starts fiddling with the air vent. "It's not just a game for me, either."

"It's not?"

Bellamy shakes his head. "When you kissed me last month, I was upset. That's why I didn't come over the last month. You got my hopes up and then, well…" he trails off, shrugging.

"I guess it felt a lot like this, huh?" Clarke swallows. "Well. How I was feeling before."

Bellamy looks at her. "And how do you feel now?"

Clarke smiles. "Happy."

Bellamy grins back at her. She leans in and he meets her lips with hers, kissing her for real for the first time.

"I love you," she murmurs. Bellamy smiles against her lips, then deepens the kiss.

They make out in the front seat until 1am, when the others start coming out of the club. Clarke gets out of the car, trying to look like she hasn't just been kissed out of her mind. But she can't stop smiling, and when she glances at Bellamy he's looking pretty pleased with himself too.

"Who won?" Clarke asks Raven.

Raven raises an eyebrow knowingly. "It looks like you did."

Clarke laughs. "No, but seriously."

"Well," Raven turns to the rest of the group. "I move that the Gladiators are disqualified, since Bellamy came out here with 3 flags in his pocket and never came back."

"I second that motion," Murphy agrees.

"Clarke was with him! She could have stolen the flags!" Octavia complains.

Miller nods in agreement. "Why should we all be punished because Bellamy wanted to get some action?"

The others erupt into an argument about who the official winners are, while Bellamy puts his arm around Clarke, and places a kiss on the top of her head.

"By the way, if you think I'm going to go easy on you from now on just because I said I'm in love with you, you've got another think coming," Clarke says.

"Right back at you," Bellamy laughs.


End file.
